Thursday 31 March 2022, 10:02

Brazil back on top

  • Brazil new leaders of FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking

  • Standings of crucial importance ahead of the draw for Qatar 2022™

  • Costa Rica the biggest movers

Having already spent the longest time at the top of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking (4,731 days), Brazil (1st, +1) returned to the summit in March 2022, five years after they were last there.

Recent wins for A Seleçao over Chile (4-0 at home) and Bolivia (4-0 away) in the qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ enabled them to overtake Belgium, who had been in first place for the past three years but who failed to get the better of Republic of Ireland on 26 March, drawing 2-2 in a friendly.

The March 2022 table is therefore a new chapter in rankings history, but more than that, it will be used to calculate the seeds for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Final Draw which will take place this Friday 1 April.

  • Pot 1: Qatar (host nation), Brazil, Belgium, France, Argentina, England, Spain, Portugal

  • Pot 2: Mexico, Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Uruguay, Switzerland, USA, Croatia

  • Pot 3: Senegal, IR Iran, Japan, Morocco, Serbia, Poland, Korea Republic, Tunisia

  • Pot 4: Cameroon, Canada, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, winner of intercontinental play-off 1, winner of intercontinental play-off 2, winner of European play-off

FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Final Draw pots

Belgium (2nd, -1) are now on the second step of the podium, ahead of France (3rd) who remain unchanged. Behind this top three, Argentina (4th), England (5th), Spain (7th) and Portugal (8th) are the next best placed teams with regard to the Draw, keeping in mind that Italy (6th) will be absent following their defeat in the play-off semi-final.

Mexico (9th, +3) and Uruguay (13th, +3) are the biggest movers inside the top 20, while overall, it is Costa Rica (31st, +11) and then New Zealand (101st, +10) who have made the most progress. Also of note is the fact that Kosovo (107th, +2) have achieved their highest ever ranking to date.

Click HERE to view the complete ranking.

The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World ranking will be published on 23 June 2022.

FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking March 2022

LeaderBrazil
Moves into top 10Mexico (9, plus 3)
Moves out of top 10Denmark (11, minus 2)
Matches played in total162
Most matches playedNew Zealand (5)
Biggest move by pointsNew Zealand (44, 41 points)
Biggest move by placesCosta Rica (plus 11 places)
Biggest drop by pointsNew Caledonia (minus 35, 42 points)
Biggest drop by placesAzerbaijan and Somalia (minus 8 places)
Newly ranked teamsCook Islands
Teams that are no longer ranked
Inactive teams that are no longer rankedNone